Egypt, Cairo Ain Shams – Spring 2011
IAP Program Handbook
This program is offered by International Academic Programs (IAP) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Institute for Study abroad at Butler University (IFSA-Butler) in partnership with Ain Shams University. Throughout the course of your study abroad experience you will be communicating with both IAP and IFSA Butler staff. It is essential that you pay close attention to all information provided to you from both organizations. This IAP Program Handbook supplements handbook(s) or materials you receive from IFSA Butler as well as the IAP Study Abroad Handbook and provides you with the most up-to-date information and advice available at the time of printing. Changes may occur before your departure or while you are abroad.
IFSA-Butler handles the program’s day-to-day operations. Generally, questions about aspects of your program abroad should be directed to IFSA-Butler (ie. housing information, program facilities abroad, extracurricular activities offered as part of the program, etc.) Questions relating to your relationship with UW-Madison or your academics should be addressed to International Academic Programs at UW-Madison (ie. course credits, equivalents, UW Madison registration, etc.)
This program handbook contains the following information:
Contact Information 1
Program Dates 2
Preparations Before Leaving 2
Travel and Arrival Information 3
The Academic Program 3
Living Abroad 7
Contact Information
IFSA Butler Contact
Christie Harrison, MA
Director of Student Services
Institute for Study Abroad
Butler University
1100 W. 42nd Street, Suite 305
Indianapolis, IN 46208
Email:
800-858-0229 ext. 4215
317-940-4215
317-940-9704 Fax
www.ifsa-butler.org
UW-Madison Information
International Academic Programs (IAP)
University of Wisconsin-Madison
261 Bascom Hall, 500 Lincoln Drive
Madison, WI 53706
Tel: 608-265-6329 Fax: 608-262-6998
Web: www.studyabroad.wisc.edu
Katie Saur
IAP Student Study Abroad Advisor
Tel: 608-890-0939
E-mail:
Emergency Contact Information
In case of an emergency, call the main IAP number (608) 265-6329 between 7:45 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; after-hours or on weekends call the IAP staff on call at (608) 516-9440.
Embassy Registration
Program participants who are U.S. citizens must register at the U.S. Embassy before departure as this will help in case of a lost passport or other mishap. You can register on-line at <https://travelregistration.state.gov>. If you are not a U.S. citizen, register at your home country’s embassy or consulate.
U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt
5 Tawfik Diab Street
Garden City, Cairo
Tel: (20)2-2797-2301
Fax: (20)2-2797-3200
Website: http://cairo.usembassy.gov/
Program Dates
8
8
Please refer to your IFSA-Butler materials for program dates or the program web site:
http://www.ifsa-butler.org/egypt-overview/dates-and-fees.html
8
Preparations Before Leaving
Refer to the Pre-Departure Checklist on pages four and five of the IAP Study Abroad Handbook for essential information.
Immigration Documents
Passport
A passport is needed to travel to Egypt and to obtain the Egyptian student visa. Apply immediately for a passport if you do not already have one. If you already have your passport, make sure it will be valid for at least six months beyond the length of your stay abroad.
Visa
All students will need to obtain two visas, a tourist visa for entering the country and a student residence visa once they have arrived. Please read the information provided by IFSA Butler regarding the visa process and follow the directions carefully. It is recommended that you proceed with applying for your visa as early as the process allows (ie. completing whatever steps you can, even if you cannot complete others). If you are not a U.S. citizen, contact your home country’s embassy or consulate for details on passport and visa requirements. Non-Egyptian students are strongly recommended to get their one month tourist visa from the Egyptian consulate in their country before their arrival. For more information, you can refer to the Consulate General of Egypt in Chicago web site: http://www.eg2002.net/ (the website is currently under construction, in the interim you can refer to the following site: www.egyptnyc.net/english/index_en.asp for more information or call the Chicago Consulate directly at 312-828-9164)
Travel and Arrival Information
There is a mandatory group flight offered by IFSA Butler. For more information on the group flight, please see your IFSA Butler materials.
Airport pick-up and a ten-day on-site program orientation are also included in your program fee.
The Academic Program
General Information
Ain Shams University is located in the lovely, historic Heliopolis section of northern Cairo, students are offered the chance to both study and live Arabic culture. With coursework supplemented by excursions to the Pyramids as well as the Egyptian museum, students have the rare opportunity to both learn about and experience first-hand the wonders of Egypt. The Arabic Language, Arts and Culture program is a semester-long program within the Faculty of Languages and the Faculty of Arts
Courses
All students must take an Arabic language (Modern Standard Arabic) and a core program course. In addition, students will select three to four other elective courses taught in English. All students must take a total of 15-17 credits per semester. The number of classes a student takes depends on the number of U.S. semester credit hours each class is worth.
Registration conditions
You must take a full course load as determined by IFSA-Butler. Credit will be awarded on a Butler University transcript based on a typical American full course load. All courses are graded on an A–F scale, and there is no provision for pass/fail or auditing courses. The program courses and credits you take must equal a total of 15 to 17 U.S. semester credit hours. The number of classes a student takes depends on the number of U.S. semester credit hours each class is worth. All courses are conducted in English and are part of the degree program within the Faculty of Languages and the Faculty of Arts. Students may not study in any other faculty at Ain Shams University.
Arabic Language (4 U.S. semester credit hours)
IFSA-Butler and Ain Shams University designed this mandatory course specifically for non-native Arabic speakers. Modern Standard Arabic with exposure to the Colloquial Egyptian dialect will be the focus of this course. The Arabic Language course is worth 4 U.S. semester credit hours.
Core Course (5 U.S. semester credit hours)
· Egyptology: The History and Art of Ancient Egypt (3100-1781 BC) - The core program course, taught in English, covers the history, monuments, and civilization of Pharonic Egypt, from the beginning of the dynastic period (3100 BC) to the end of the medieval state (1781 BC). The course meets four times per week, with in-class meetings supplemented by field visits to the Egyptian museum and the Giza pyramids, The course content is divided into two subject areas, history and art history. Two lectures per week will provide students with an overview of the history of Pharonic Egypt, while the other two will offer an introduction to the art and architecture of the period, focusing on how to understand the religious concepts of ancient Egyptian art and architecture, and the dating of Egyptian art.
Elective Courses
The elective courses offered by Ain Shams University are part of the degree programs within the Faculty of Languages and the Faculty of Arts. These courses will be taught in English for IFSA-Butler students. Students will be required to take three to four electives in addition to the mandatory Arabic Language course and the core course. All students must complete the course preference form (included in this packet) and list electives in order of preference. We cannot guarantee that all the electives will be offered every semester; availability depends on the enrollment of program participants in the courses. Below is a list of the elective courses taught in English and the description including the U.S. semester credit hour value of each course.
· Classical Arabic Poetry - (2 U.S. semester credit hours) Arabic poetry is traditionally divided into eras representing different historical phases in the life of the Arabs. These include the pre-Islamic (Jahilite), Islamic, Ummayad, Abbasid, Memaluke, Ottoman and modern eras. Particular emphasis is on the first four eras which span more than half a millennium and provide the names of the most famous and influential classical Arab poets. The course seeks to acquaint the students with the basic traditions and forms of Arabic poetry and also focuses on particular poets and poems. It also relates Arabic poetry to the culture that gave rise to it. Recurrent terms in the course therefore include the traditions of chivalry, hospitality, ghazal (courtly love) and the image of the woman, panegyric and satire, which represent some of the major themes of Arabic poetry. Names of poets to be studied include Muru’ Al-Qays, Al-Mutannabi and others. For a reading list connected to this course, please contact your program advisor.
· Modern Arabic Poetry (2 U.S. semester credit hours) During the last 150 years, Modern Arabic poetry has witnessed a development similar to that which took place in Europe from the early 18th century. It started with a revival of great classical traditions and an attempt to emulate the work of the great masters of classical Arabic poetry, and developed—under Western influence—into a major Romantic movement that swept the major metropolises of the Arab World, especially in Egypt, Lebanon and Syria. The movement continued to evolve into a free-verse movement of different sorts that corresponded roughly to the Modernist development of poetry in the Anglo-American world at the hands of T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, and progressed into a more postmodern reality. The course traces that development and explains the ways in which the modern Arabic poem differs from the classical poem, how it relates to the questions of imperialism, political conflict in the Middle East and the controversy between the traditionalist intellectual trends and modernist secular ones. For a reading list connected to this course, please contact your program advisor.
· Aspects of Islamic Culture: Concepts and Texts (2 U.S. semester credit hours) This course seeks to introduce students to aspects of Islamic culture from an Islamic perspective. The course provides an overview of some major aspects of Islamic culture. Particular importance is given to Islam as it was traditionally understood before the late 18th and 19th century encounters between Islam and the West. The course will help the student understand how contemporary Islam, as perceived by the Western World, differs from the traditional Islam that the West first encountered with the rise of colonization. The course focuses on the Islamic faith, Sharia (Islamic law), its traditional division into four schools of schools, Islam’s brand of pluralism and Sufism as the embodiment of Islamic spirituality. The course will also shed light on the role of Wahhabism in the creations of the contemporary picture of Islam, especially in the Western mind. Areas of interest also include major Islamic contributions to science and the humanities, with a focus on the questions of authorship, plagiarism and the transmission of knowledge in written form. For a reading list connected to this course, please contact your program advisor.
· Nation and Narration (2 U.S. semester credit hours) This course focuses on reading examples of Contemporary Arabic fiction that aim at narrating the nation, especially in times of national turmoil that threaten the very existence of the people. Based on the premise that a distinction should be made between stable and unstable societies, rather than between First and Third Worlds, and in such politically-determined societies there is no escape from politics because it is what shapes peoples’ lives on the private as well as the public level. Literature, being a product of its society, is compelled to take on a political dimension that is inseparable from the daily life of conflict and strife that the individual has to undergo and simultaneously becomes a tool of resistance against the threats facing the nation. Students should have prior familiarity of the novel as a genre and understand the methods of a close reading of text. For a reading list connected to this course, please contact your program advisor.
*Information from IFSA Butler’s Arabic Language, Arts and Culture Program
Equivalents and Course Equivalent Request Form (CERF)
Students will earn UW-Madison course equivalents for each course taken abroad. Grades will also transfer back to UW-Madison and will be factored into your overall GPA. Each course you take abroad must be assigned a UW-Madison “equivalent” course in order for your grades and credits to be recorded on your UW-Madison transcript. In order to establish UW-Madison course equivalents for your study abroad courses, you will submit a Course Equivalent Requests through your My Study Abroad account. Detailed information on the UW course equivalent process that you will use through your My Study Abroad account is available in the IAP Study Abroad Handbook.
Credits
Students must be enrolled full-time. IFSA Butler considers a semester abroad equivalent to a semester in the U.S. All students must take 15-17 U.S. semester credits on the program.
Pass/Fail/Drop/Audit
Please refer to the IAP Study Abroad Handbook for academic policies.
Grades and Grade Conversions
Each course you take abroad must be assigned a UW-Madison “equivalent” course in order for your grades and credits to be recorded on your UW-Madison transcript. In order to establish UW-Madison course equivalents for your study abroad courses, you will submit a Course Equivalent Requests through your My Study Abroad account. Detailed information on the UW course equivalent process that you will use through your My Study Abroad account is available in the IAP Study Abroad Handbook.
IFSA Butler uses the following grade conversion scale:
Egypt University Grade / IFSA Butler Equivalent / UW-Madison Equivalent90-100% (Excellent) / A / A
80-89% (Very Good) / A- / AB
75-79% (Good) / B+ / AB
70-74% (Good) / B / B
65-69% (Good) / B- / BC
60-64% (Fair) / C+ / BC
55-59% (Fair) / C / C
50-54% (Fair) / C- / C
0-49% (Not Passing) / F / F
Living Abroad
Educate yourself about your host country. Read the Preparing to Live in Another Culture section of the IAP Study Abroad Handbook. Consult the following resources as well as travel books in the Study Abroad Resource Room (250 Bascom Hall). Remember- it won't be possible to prepare yourself completely. There will be situations you will not have anticipated and your flexibility will determine in great part the kind of experience you will have while abroad.